Like this:

It does not snow in Cape Town, apart from occasionally on top of Table Mountain, so these snowflakes are about as close as it gets. They are summer snowflakes, or Leucojum aestivum.

Snowflakes 2

The sun was so bright that the tiny white flowers have little halos around them.

And here is Little Monkey modelling the flowers.

LM and Snowflakes 3

I had to whistle to get her to look my way. She was far too busy checking out the neighbourhood!

LM and Snowflakes 4

I didn’t crop the above photo as I thought you might be interested to see what the streets look like in my area. Sometimes there’s a footpath, mostly it is just grass verge.

LM and Snowflakes 5

People may wonder why the wall of this property, which runs in a straight line around the perimeter for metres on end, suddenly does a little detour here and indents for the width of a panel.

LM and Snowflakes 6

The reason is that there used to be a very large tree right here, in the property line. When the old neighbours put up their wall, instead of chopping down the tree, they detoured the wall around it. I loved to walk past and see this heart-warming little act of kindness.

Well, the tree got old and died, and eventually had to be removed; leaving a wall departing from its line for no apparent reason.

LM and Snowflakes 7

I guess at some point one of the owners must have planted these bulbs.

I love that these snowflakes have appeared and thrive in this little nook, despite never having been watered.

Hello Spring!

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post script: Spring might as well come now. It seems we had all our winter rain in May, so if it’s not going to rain any more, let it Spring!

Like this:

Maybe if we start telling people the brain is an App they’ll start using it.

– Unknown

Sometimes I think that the intelligence of the human race is deteriorating more with every new device that comes on the market.

We evolved opposable thumbs for grasping things, not for playing games on electronic devices.

The more time people spend connected to their devices, the less time they spend using their brain and actually thinking.

And as the saying goes; use it or lose it!

post script: Before I get any backlash here, let me say that there is nothing wrong in playing games or being on social media. It’s just that I think some time every day should be spent away from it; going outside and connecting with nature or other people – actually in person; reading a book; creating something – a painting, writing, planting seeds; learning something new and using your brain.

And a Thank You to Quiall at Butterfly Sand, whose Shady Quip made me think of this today.

If you wonder why I talk about winter one day, spring the next and then autumn, it is because all this is going on at the same time down here in Cape Town.

It is not surprising, considering we can have a week of Berg winds and temperatures of 27C, followed by a cold front passing through, bringing snow on the mountains and causing the temperatures to plummet. If we’re lucky we’ll also get rain, but so far it has rained only once in July; our rainy month!

Oak Tree 3

So yes, technically it is mid-winter here. Yet some trees are still losing their leaves, like my oak tree pictured above, a few have been bare for a while and others are sprouting their new spring growth. Most, however, are Evergreen.

You don’t really get four different seasons here; you get summer for about eight months and not-summer for four.

Apart from all these, shall we say “less active” pets; my stoep is also occasionally visited by Sparky the Squirrel, and frequently by Cheeky Chops, the Olive Thrush, who uses Little Monkey’s water bowls for his daily ablutions.

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This post is for Garfield Hugs, who wanted to know more about my stoep pets.

I was sitting quietly in the lounge having a cuppa and doing crosswords, when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up I saw a squirrel on the fence outside. I grabbed my camera and took a quick photo. Then I noticed that there were actually two Sparkies playing on the fence.

I wanted to take more shots, but my camera froze for some reason; maybe because it was jolly cold!

Anyway, it was nice to see these two chasing each other as if they were twitterpated! It means Spring is just around the corner.

All the birds around are noisily proclaiming their territories and there are Shouting Wars going on at all hours. On our dog walk a few days ago Little Monkey and I saw about eight Egyptian Geese, sitting high above us in the branches of the massive fir trees and also on the rooves of nearby houses, all honking loudly at each other. It was ear-shattering!